Internal combustion engines which utilize liquid fuel are well known, for example, to provide propulsion in motor vehicles. Fuel systems for delivering liquid fuel to the internal combustion engine are also well known. Such fuel systems typically include a fuel tank which holds a volume of fuel, one or more fuel pumps for pumping fuel from the fuel tank to the internal combustion engine and one or more fuel injectors for delivering a precisely metered amount of fuel to be combusted in one or more combustion chambers of the internal combustion engine. In one known fuel system described in United States Patent Application Publication No. US 2004/0250795 A1, the fuel system also includes a fuel pressure regulator, described therein as a pump pressure relief valve, and also includes a fuel accumulator, both of which are illustrated within the fuel tank only schematically. Also as illustrated therein, the fuel pressure regulator and the fuel accumulator are distinct elements, which increase the packaging size of the two elements and also increases cost and complexity to produce the system.
What is needed is a fuel pressure regulator which minimizes or eliminates one or more of the shortcomings set forth above.